Advertising apparatus.



No. 639,598. 4 Patented Dec. l9, I899.

F. C. MORTON.

ADVERTlSlNG APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 20, 1899.)

(No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 639,598. I Patented Dec. l9, I899.

F. C. MORTON.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 20, 1899.]

(No Model.) 6 SheetsSh eet 2 A i k a W/TNEEEEE. NJ: TU/i. 1

Patented Dec. l9, I899.

F. C. MORTON.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

lA plication filed June 20. 1899.)

6 SheetsSheel 3.

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No. 639,598. Patented Dec, I9, 1899. F. C. MORTON.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

[Application filed June 20, 1899.)

6 Sheets- Sheet 4.

(N0 Model.)

mahwwm No. 639,598. Patented Dec. .19, I899.- F. c. MORTON.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 20, 1899.) (No Model.) 6 Sheats$heet 5.

mz'm'mnls PETERS co, PHOTD-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. n c

No. 639,598. Patented Dec. l9, I899. F. C. MORTON.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 2Q, 1899.) (No Model.) 6 Sheet ;:8heet 6.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT Trice.

FREDERIC CIIAUNOEY MORTSN, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADVERTISING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,598, dated December 19, 1899.

Application filed \Tune 20, 1899. Serial No. 721,191, (No modeLl To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERIO OHAUNCEY MORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Advertising Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a display apparatus and is herein shown as embodied in a portable apparatus which may be self-propelling.

In the embodiment of the invention herein shown a box or case, preferably rectangular in form, is mounted upon uprights or posts supported by the body of a vehicle. The box or case is provided with transparent sides or windows, with which cooperate movable curtains or surfaces, preferably having on them advertisements to be displayed. The advertisements on the curtain may and preferably will be arranged thereon to leave a blank space, and the box or case may and preferably will contain within it, substantially parallel to the sides or Windows of the said case or box, surfaces having on them advertisements which cooperate with the advertisements on the curtains when the latter are moved opposite the glass sides or windows of the box or case.

The movable advertisement-bearing surfaces or curtains in accordance with this invention are moved by mechanism which antomatically operates the same to display the advertisement on the curtain and to remove the same from view.

The box or case may and preferably will contain within it a lamp or other medium for furnishing light at night-time. The box or case is preferably set diagonally with relation to the body of the vehicle, so that the advertisements may be more advantageously displayed. These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figural is a side elevation of a portable display apparatus embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a front elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 looking toward the left; Fig. 4, a longitudinal vertical section of the vehicle, on an enlarged scale, to be referred to; Fig. 5, a horizontal sectional detail of the vehicle, on an enlarged scale; Fig. 6, a vertical sectional detail, on an enlarged scale, of the box or case; Fig. 7, a top or plan view of the box or case shown in Fig. 6 with the cover and lamp removed; Fig. 8, a sectional detail of the box or case to be referred to, and Figs. 9, 10, and 11 details to be referred to.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive, a represents the body of a vehicle, said body being mounted on axles b 0, having suitable wheels (I. The vehicle a, as herein shown, is substantially oblong in shape and near its corners has erected upon it four uprights or posts 6, which support a platform f, upon which rests the bottom g of a box or case h, provided with a removable cover 2'. The box or case It is preferably set diagonally with rela tion to the vehicle-that is, a line diagonally through said box or case is coincident or substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive.

The box or case h contains within it one or more movable surfaces j, (herein shown as four in number,) and preferably said surfaces are made in the form of curtains secured to spring-actuated rollers after the manner of ordinary curtains. The curtains j are arranged parallel to the sides of the box or case, which are provided, as shown,with glass windows m. The rollers 70 are journaled in suitable fixtures n, attached to the inner side of the box, (see Fig. 7,) and the curtains are adapted to be drawn into line with the glass windows by cords, chains, or other flexible connections 0, each of which, as shown, has one end secured by a clamp 19 to the bottom of the box and passed over rollers or wheels q r, mounted at the opposite ends of the curtain-stick s, thence under a roller or wheel 15, and extended toward the center of the box or case, Where it is secured to a drum a, fast on a spindle or upright shaft 4). Rotation of the drum in one direction Winds up the cords 0 and draws the curtains into line with the Windows in the box or case, and rotation of said drum in the opposite direction unwinds the cords and permits the spring-actuated rollers to wind the curtains on them. The drum to may be rotated, as herein shown, by a motor mechanism, which is herein represented in Figs. 4 and 5 as an electric motor 1, supported within the body of the vehicle, and having its armature-shaft 2 provided with a worm 3, in mesh with a worm-gear at on a shaft 5, suitably supported, and provided with a pinion (3, which meshes with a gear 7 on a shaft 8, having fast to it a cam-disk 9, which engages a roller 10 on a lever 12, pivoted at 13 to a support let and having its free end joined by a connecting-rod 15 to a crank 16 on an upright shaft 17. (Herein shown as extended through one of the posts 0, which is hollow.) The shaft 17 extends into the chamber 20, formed between the bottom 9 of the box or case and the platform f, and has fast on it a crank or arm 21, provided with a gear-segment 22, which meshes with a pinion 23, fast on the drum-shaft i The electric motor 1 may be driven by a storage battery 24, of any suitable make, and the current may be controlled by a suitable switch. (Not shown, as it may be of any ordinary or well-known construction.) The lever 12, as shown, is held in engagement with the periphery of the cam-disk 9 by the springs of the curtain-rollers, and the said lever is oscillated during each revolution of said disk, which oscillation of the lever 12 produces oscillation of the segmental gear 22 and drum 11.

By reference to Fig. 7 it will be seen that movement of the segmental gear 22 in the direction indicated by the arrow will wind the cords on the drum, and thereby draw the curtains so as to display an advertisement on them, and that the movement of the drum in the opposite direction, effected in the present instance by the springs of the curtain-rollers and which is permitted by the cam 9, unwinds the cords, thus allowing the curtains to be wound upon their rollers, and thereby withdrawing from view the advertisements on them. The advertisements on the curtains are thus periodically or intermittently displayed and withdrawn from view by reverse movements of the curtains, effected from a motor mechanism having a shaft which rotates in one direction. The operation of the curtains to display the advertisement-s thereon and then withdraw them from view is antomatic, as above described, requiring no attention on the part of the driver of the vehicle, and this is one of the features of this invention. The curtains may be transparent or translucent or opaque in whole or in part, and the advertisements may be arranged thereon so as to leave a blank space, and the box or case may contain glass or other surfaces 32, arranged parallel to the sides of the box or case and behind the curtains, as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 9. The surfaces 32 may have printed, painted, or otherwise affixed thereon an advertisement, or the said surfaces may be left blank.

. The advertisement may be displayed in the daytime, and is also especiallyadapted for display at night-time, a suitable light being placed in the box or case.

In the present instance I have represented the box or case as provided with an oil-lamp 33, having its fount 34 fitted upon a stem or post 35,erected from a cross-bar 36,seeured to posts 37, erected upon the bottom of said box or case.

The box or case, as above stated, is provided with a removable cover or top 1', through which projects an outlet-pipe for the products of combustion of the lamp. In Fig. 6 the cords for the curtains shown in end view are omitted to avoid confusion in the drawings.

The vehicle may be an autom obiie,or it may be drawn by horses or in any other suitable manner, or it may be stationary. In the present instance it is shown with a depression or cavity 4-1, (see Figs. 4 and 5,) in which the driver sits and directs the vehicle by the steering-handle 42.

The platform f is preferably provided with side extensions 43 to support the parts of the box or case which project over the sides of the vehicle.

By diagonally arranging the box or case with relation to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle the advertisements are more effectively presented and a side of the box or case can be seen for a longer time by a person standing on the sidewalk of a street through which the vehicle is passing, thereby render ing the apparatus more effective for advertising purposes.

I prefer to pass the vertical shaft 17 thro ugh one of the posts or uprights, but do not limit myself in this respect. So, also, I may prefer to use an electric motor as the motive mechanism for operating the curtains, but do not desire to limit my invention in this respect, as

a motor mechanism operated by other meansmay be employed. Furthermore, I prefer to use the advertisement-bearing surfaces 32', but do not restrict my invention to their use. WVhile I prefer the diagonal arrangement of the advertising box or case, I do not limit my invention in this respect, as the said box or case may set square with relation to the vehicle.

The box or case 71 constitutes a preferred form of supporting-frame for the advertisement-bearing surfaces. The curtains 7' may and preferably will be provided with advertisements arranged thereon to leave a blank space which cooperates with an advertisement on the stationary surface 33 behind it, substantially as shown and described in United States Patent No. 623,865,dated April 25, 1899; but I do not desire to limit my invention to this particular arrangement or to thehicle, a supporting-frame erected upon the same, a plurality of movable surfaces having advertisements thereon carried by said supporting-frame and visible from outside of said vehicle, a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle and deriving its power independent of the movement of the vehicle, means to connect said movable surfaces with said motor mechanism to automatically move said surfaces independent of the movement of the said vehicle and in one direction to display the advertisements thereon, and to permit said surfaces to be moved in the opposite direction to withdraw said advertisement from view, and means to effect movement of the said surfaces in said opposite direction, while the said m0- tor mechanism continues to run in the same direction, substantially as described.

2. In a-display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: a vehicle, a supporting-frame erected upon the same and provided with a movable surface visible from outside of the said vehicle, a cooperating surface carried by said frame in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of the first-mentioned surface and provided with an advertisement, a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle and deriving its power independent of the movement of the vehicle, and an oscillating or reciprocating mechanism actuated by said motor mechanism and connected to said movable surface to automatically move the same alternately in opposite directions with relation to said cooperating surface independent of the movement of the vehicle, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: a vehicle, a supporting-frame erected upon the same and provided with a movable surface visible from outside of said vehicle, and a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle and deriving its power independent of the movement of the vehicle, and an oscillating or reciprocating mechanism actuated by said motor mechanism and connected to said movable surface to automaticallyand continuously operate said surface alternately in opposite directions independent of the movement of the vehicle and of the operator thereon after said motor mechanism is setin operation, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: a vehicle provided with uprights or posts, a box or case supported on said uprights, a movable surface within said box or case, mechanism within said box or case to which said curtain is connected, a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle outside of said box or case, and intermediate mechanism connecting said motor mechanism with the mechanism within said box or case, for the purpose specified.

5. In a display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: avehicle provided withuprights or posts, one of which is hollow, a box or case supported on said posts and provided with a movable surface or curtain, mechanism within said box or case to which said curtain is connected, a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle, and intermediate mechanism connecting the said motor mechanism with the mechanism in said box, a part of said intermediate mechanism being extended through said hollow post or upright, substantially as described.

6. In a display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: a vehicle, a box or case erected upon the same and provided with a movable surface or ourtain and with a surface behind said curtain, one or both of said surfaces having an advertisement thereon, mechanism within the said box or case to which said curtain is connected, a motor mechanism carried by said vehicle, and mechanism intermediate of said motor mechanism and the mechanism within the said box or case to connect the same and permit the curtain to be automatically operated alternately in opposite directions, substantially as described.

7. Ina display apparatus, the combination of the followinginstrumentalities, viz: a Vehicleprovided with posts or uprights erected thereon, a box or case supported on said posts and arranged diagonally with relation to said vehicle, windows in said box or case, movable surfaces within said box or case and cooperating with said windows, and means to move said surfaces with relation to said windows, to automatically and alternately move said surfaces into and out of opposition with said windows, substantially as described. I

8. In a display apparatus, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz: a vehicle having a substantially oblong body portion, uprights or posts erected upon said body portion, a normally-closed box or case supported on said posts and arranged diagonally with relation to said body portion, said box or case havinga window, a movable surface within said box or case and cooperating with said window, an oscillating or reciprocating mechanism connected to said surface, means to move said mechanism in one direction, and means to move said mechanism in the reverse direction, whereby the said movable surface is automatically and alternately moved with relation to said window, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERIO CHAUNCEY MORTON. 

